Key Ideas

Capitalist society inspires culteral ferment in 15th cent Flanders and Holland
important secular works of 15th cent architecture are influenced by Gothic chruch architecture
The Int. Gothic stlye dominates Northern European painting
Flemish painting is symbolic, crowded comp, and hoizontal lines
secular on the rise
Print making is important

Image 20-3

Claus Sulter, Well of Moses limestone, Dijon, France
6 old testament figures surrounding well
water symbollically represented the blood of Christ washing over and cleansing the figures
supplied water for a monastery
Drapery cascades in solid, heavy waves down the figs
Rounded solid volumes

20-1 and 20-2

Limbourg Brothers
international gothic, ink on vellum, Musee Conde, Chantilly
Each manuscript page is an illustration of the months of the year for a book of hours
Top: astrological signs associated with each month, apollo is riding a chariot bring up the dawn
Main scenes: labors of the month February is warming oneself by fire, July is peasants harvesting wheat and shearing sheep, october is planting winter wheat. Naturalism details, meticulously rendered castles.
Separation of the classes strictly emphasized by placement of serfs and nobility in different areas of the painting

20-12

1425-1428 oil on wood
Merode Altarpiece (open) by Robert Campin
Left panel: donors, middle class people kneeling before holy scene
CEnter panel: Annunciation taking place in an everyday Flemish interior
Symbolism
towels and water are marys purity: water is a baptism symbol
Flowers have 3 buds symbolizing the trinity- unopened bud
Mary on floor = humility
Mary blocks the fireplace (entrance to hell)
Candlestick: mary holds christ in the womb
Angel with a cross comes in through the window, the divine birth
Humanization of traditional themes: no halos, domestic setting/ flemish city view
Right panel: Joseph in his carpentry workshop, mousetrap - capturing evil
Meticulous handling of paint, intricate details
Steeply rising ground line; figures too large for the architecture they sit in

20-5

20-6

Polyptych placed on an altar of St. Bavo oil on wood
Great detail and extreme realism
Top: God the Father in center sits in majesty wearing the popes crwon surrounded by Mary and John the baptist; choirs of angels flank them; adam and eve appear in the corners
bottom: The lamb of God in the center with a continous landscape containing midieveal knights and clergy

20-8

20-10

Hugo van der Goes - Portinari Altarpiece (open) from Sant' Edigio Florence 1476
Placed in the family chapel
Placement in maternity hospital chapel influences imagery
Mary as the mother of Christ is central; St. Margaret patron saint of childbirth is in the right wing; christs thin appearance simulates a newborn
Christ places a sheaf of wheat that symbolizes the sacredness of the Eucharist
Plants in the foreground have medicinal value and symbolic associations
continous landscape throughout the 3 panels
Figures at different scales- some very large, some small